Sources: Jets signing QB Flacco to one-year deal

The New York Jets are signing former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco to a one-year deal, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Jets general manger Joe Douglas was a Ravens scout in 2008, when Baltimore drafted Flacco in the first round. Now Flacco will rejoin Douglas and compete for the backup quarterback job when he’s healthy and ready.

Jets coach Adam Gase was expecting his team to land Flacco earlier in the week, sources said, but the free agent was still talking with other interested teams and wasn’t ready to commit to New York and its one-year deal — which is worth up to $4.5 million — until Friday.

The Denver Broncos released Flacco with a failed physical designation on March 19. He underwent neck surgery in early April and is expected to be out until around Sept. 1, a source told ESPN, confirming a report by SiriusXM NFL Radio.

Flacco, who turned 35 in January, was placed on injured reserve halfway through the 2019 season with a herniated disk in his neck.

He was 2-6 as Denver’s starting quarterback in 2019, throwing for 1,822 yards with six touchdowns and five interceptions. He completed 65.3% of his passes.

Flacco said during the season that he had felt discomfort in his neck “for a couple of weeks” before his last start, Oct. 27 in Indianapolis. He took several big hits in the loss to the Colts, including one of the biggest all season on the game’s final play. He went on injured reserve five days later.

Flacco is expected to be ready to participate without contact in training camp, a source said, and is expected to be cleared from his neck surgery in September. Flacco has received two medical opinions on his neck since the end of the season, and had an MRI in February.

In 12 NFL seasons, Flacco is 98-73 as a starter with 40,067 passing yards, 218 touchdowns and 141 interceptions. During the 2012 postseason, Flacco threw 11 touchdown passes without an interception in four games as the Ravens went on to win Super Bowl XLVII.